Flight of the bumblebee

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Looking at this list makes me realize how very, very few 80's-90's Hudson Soft games I've played. I think the only one on the entire list I ever played a lot of was Mega Bomberman, the Mega Drive port of Bomberman '94. If I recall, it's the only Hudson game of any sort on the Mega Drive, though I could be wrong.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Looking at this list makes me realize how very, very few 80's-90's Hudson Soft games I've played. I think the only one on the entire list I ever played a lot of was Mega Bomberman, the Mega Drive port of Bomberman '94.

This.

I don't think I've played any Hudson games other than a few different versions of Bomberman and Mario Party (if that counts).

[Green Gibbon!]

What is really the best, definitive version of Bomberman?

The one I remember most fondly is Bomberman '94 (as Mega Bomberman on the Genny), but I've heard people swear by Saturn Bomberman, which I've never played.

[G.Silver]

I don't think I've played any Hudson games other than a few different versions of Bomberman and Mario Party (if that counts).

Similar here. To make up for it (and perhaps justify that I actually picked "Adventure Island" as one of my favorites) I've been playing the original Adventure Island (the one that is also Wonder Boy) and man, I don't know what you can say about it to call it a classic or say what is special or significant about it, besides masochism appeal and that Takahashi Meijin's name is on it. I played it back in the day, a friend owned it, or had borrowed it from another friend, and even then it seemed after clearing the first four stages (it has the same number of levels/worlds as Super Mario Bros) that the game was unlikely to offer anything interesting beyond that and I don't think I ever played it again. I'm now much further along, but my assessment at age 8 or whatever was spot on, there is nothing beyond the first few levels except for burning challenge.

It seems really strange to me that even at that time, a game that clearly offers less "value" than the first Super Mario (admittedly, SMB was really exceptional) could have been in such demand that the people who made it retained the rights to the game and sold it a second time to someone else with a new character as the lead. It seems like a con to me!

I think what I really like are Japanese Adventure Island box covers.

What is really the best, definitive version of Bomberman?

The one I remember most fondly is Bomberman '94 (as Mega Bomberman on the Genny), but I've heard people swear by Saturn Bomberman, which I've never played.

The one that resonated with me was Super Bomberman, and aside from just being really solid Bomberman, it had a certain visual flair to it that I really liked, a look like they had tried to make the graphics look like 3D rendered CG graphics (like Sonic 1) but actually did them all by hand. The feel of the kick and punch moves (some later Bomberman games don't even have Punch, if I remember right) also stuck with me. When I played Saturn Bomberman, which has obvious functional advantages (12 player, wasn't it?), it still just didn't seem as polished to me, and with the balance of certain moves changed, I just couldn't get into it.

[Rob-Bert]

I say Super Bomberman 5 is the best, largely because it contains a large chunk of maps from the first four games plus a bunch of brand new ones. It also has the cleanest graphics of the 5 Super Bomberman games I think.

Second favorite is Neo Bomberman, but that's mostly for the graphics and arcade-style battle mode.

[Green Gibbon!]

I think old Sega fans deified Wonder Boy because (like Alex Kidd), it was all they had. Granted, that still doesn't explain why the Adventure Island games became so popular they carried on to number 4 exclusively on the Fami, which had much better options available (much worse options also, though).

That's not to say they're bad games, but I don't think I ever played one past the third stage.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

To its credit, though, Wonder Boy did mutate into the worthwhile Monster World, culminating in one of the greatest games never to leave Japan. Though there're rumors that MW IV is coming to the Wii's VC.

Adventure Island IV was totally unlike anything that came before or after in the series (I hear Super Adventure Island 2 shares some qualities), being more akin to Tails Adventures.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I just remembered that MW IV got a GameTap release ages ago. Though, part of the rumor is that this time it'll be translated.

And also, Adventure Island is Japan-exclusive, too, and best compared to MW than Tails Adventures besides.

[G.Silver]

http://video-game-ephemera.com/039.htm

Just came across this and thought I'd share it here. These are flyers of some sort from Hudson made during the late 80s. The first one especially does not have much (if anything) to do with video games, but they certainly say something about the culture at the Hudson company. I don't know when the article they're attached was written, it doesn't mention their absorption into Konami or Meijin leaving, but it's an interesting thing to stumble across given those recent events.